Lee Westwood wasted little time rising to the top of the leaderboard as the final round of the BMW PGA Championship began in glorious sunshine at Wentworth Club.

The Englishman, looking to win The European Tour’s Flagship Event for the first time at the 20th attempt and having twice been a runner-up, birdied the short second to catch overnight leader Alejandro Cañizares.

The Spaniard started with two pars as he looks to win his first event back since contracting viral meningitis last month.

Both players then fired stunning approaches to the par four third and birdied to remain locked together on ten under par.

The pair were two ahead of the fast finishing Niclas Fasth and Matteo Manassero.

Swede Fasth, without a top-ten European Tour finish for two years, carded five unanswered birdies over his first 14 holes, while Italian Manassero was one after for the day having birdied the third.

There was a two shot swing on the par five fourth, where Cañizares pulled his drive almost into the trees and with twigs and a stone behind his ball, failed to get it back to the fairway.

From there he came up short of the green and failed to get up and down, while Westwood splashed out of a greenside bunker to three feet.

The birdie took Westwood to 11 under and two clear of Cañizares and Italy's Matteo Manassero, who had another birdie at the fourth.

Westwood's two shot lead lasted barely 20 minutes however, the World Number 12 dropping a shot on the sixth as Cañizares birdied the same hole.

Both players also bogeyed the seventh, Cañizares failing to get up and down from left of the green and Westwood three-putting from short range.

That meant there was suddenly a four-way tie at the top of the leaderboard, with Westwood and Cañizares joined by Manassero and 2010 winner Simon Khan, who had four holes to play.